With such focus on fentanyl, many have forgotten about crystal. Teun Voeten reminds us in his riveting new book, including this brutal excerpt from Skid Row.
Hi Ioan. Your article hits home with me. My wife and I moved to downtown San Diego in 2006. Our community, East Village, had a brand-new baseball park, was undergoing gentrification and we wanted to be a part of its growth. We invested in a penthouse condo and began to greatly enjoy downtown living.
East Village was always a shit hole but we gambled it would get better. The ballpark replaced an industrial area adjacent to the lower socio-economic neighborhoods to the south and the gentrification of the Gaslamp district to the north.
We have dogs and they need to be walked several times a day. Our frequent walks taught us about our community. There were many empty-nesters like us, ambitious young adults and homeless people. At the time “Homeless” was a fair term as most had hit unfortunate times and were thriving to get back their lives. There was also a portion who were predators – the addicts and thugs. The existing laws at the time, gave us some control over the predators.
I had many pleasant encounters with our Homeless and was always eager to help them and then it changed. Our lawmakers decriminalized drugs and theft, legalized weed, and established zero bail.
Immediately, the homeless community morphed into a predatory community filled with criminals. Their numbers multiplied. Our secure buildings became their targets for shelter, and a means to exploit the property and residents to get goods for their next fix. As a 32-year veteran of law enforcement working the most dangerous criminals in the US and Mexico, I got into more action in East Village than ever on the job – and that’s walking 2 fat Pugs.
My spouse was victimized on several occasions while walking the dogs and I had several physical altercations with guns, knives, scissors, mop handles and other weapons. Over time, I became insensitive and even aggressive toward these predators. I was prepared for battle whenever exiting our building. Drug usage and other nasty habits were “in your face.” The police were stripped of their tools to enforce these nasty habits and it continued to deteriorate. The good people of our community were no longer the priority and the progressives and liberals continued to decriminalize and coddle the predators.
Having two children who serve with the San Diego Police Department, they begged us to leave East Village. It became the most dangerous area of the city. We finally left our dream condo by the ballpark for a more modest but safer community.
Living among this highly dysfunctional, transient and predatory population you realize that housing or providing free meals and shelter is not the solution. They just keep coming once you provide something. They require a highly structured, and secure rehabilitation camp away from functioning communities where they can get regular meals and services. They must be removed from our cities! They need to be held accountable. They will not seek help on their own and our good citizens must be the priority. This is what it has come to in California.
Hey there Stephen. Always great to hear from you and this you write here is an incredible acount that should be shared. This part is especially crazy and sad - "As a 32-year veteran of law enforcement working the most dangerous criminals in the US and Mexico, I got into more action in East Village than ever on the job – and that’s walking 2 fat Pugs. My spouse was victimized on several occasions while walking the dogs and I had several physical altercations with guns, knives, scissors, mop handles and other weapons. Over time, I became insensitive and even aggressive toward these predators. I was prepared for battle whenever exiting our building." - It's mind blowing how this all happened in a wealthy city like San Diego and the political class just failed to deal with it or perhaps made it worse. Best there friend.
They built the new ballpark right in the area that historically was skid row and around the collection of the worst lowlifes of San Diego. Market Street, E street and Commercial Street were bad crime areas for the 46 years I lived in San Diego and San Diego County. The publicity about the revitalization of these area failed to mention this bubbling underground of human sewer. Gas Lamp District and East Village are the perfect examples of false advertising. Less then 3 or 4 miles away across from East Village is an extremely violent neighborhood of Sherman Heights which furthered the violence in East Village. So much money was made with this illusion of urban living and unfortunately so many people were victims of this urban, business and housing scam. My wife and I have never looked back after leaving San Diego, San Diego County and California in 2006. Funerals, weddings and family reunions we just send a card or make a telephone call. You could not pay us to ever set forth in that state again. We even have a grandson in San Francisco and he knows that we will only meet in neutral territory at least 1000 miles away from the state of California.
It is a multitude of factors especially with the perspective of being born and raised there seeing the changes for the worst over time. 45,000 homeless on the streets which was started by ridiculous court decisions. Stupidity by public officials resulting in absurd decisions affecting everyday life. The Los Angeles fires is a perfect example. Urban development plans which destroyed decades of ethnic neighborhoods and businesses downtown. Historical renovations that resulted in a huge jump in property value making the area unaffordable to the low income residents. Never listened to alternatives despite demonstrations to make historical zones subject to no massive increases in property value. Residents in those renovated homes became the enemy and who were attacked. Increasing crime was never dealt with and law enforcement corruption has been always a huge problem. Illegal immigration used by the city, contractors and major businesses to destroy any wage growth and actually ended up reducing wages. City janitors which became a stepping stone to the middle class for blacks for decades was destroyed by laying off the janitors and outsourcing the work to contractors who only used illegal labor is the perfect example. The 1992 carpenter's strike in California resulted in contractors destroying the union and hiring only illegal labor. Carpenter wages today are lower then wages in 1992. It was definitely time to leave.
That is very interesting. The detail of the janitors is a notable detail I know nothing about. I think the issue of homeless and addiction is a larger party of failure by Western governments i'm various policies over the last few decades but it's a very visible, and impactful, sign of it.
"Our lawmakers decriminalized drugs and theft, legalized weed, and established zero bail."
A few points: I don't know the details of the drug decriminalization measures you speak of, but open use of drugs on the street--legal or illegal--should always be a criminal offense.* As should shoplifting, theft, and burglary--come on, California, this is basic! Allowing people to bail out for misdemeanors on recognizance--or allowing them to skip out on their hearings entirely--is an abrogation of government responsibilities that's unfathomable to me. Same with issuing tickets for misdemeanor offenses, as if they're parking tickets, and then allowing the offenders to be scofflaws. (Parking ticket scofflaws are bad enough.)
[*tobacco and coffee excepted, as posing zero behavioral risk. And while it's often easy to get away with the rest of it--the police can't be everywhere--that's an entirely different situation than simply allowing public use with a zero enforcement policy. ]
The situation is bad enough that I don't think we should be building apartments for shiftless derelict drug addicts, we need to build facilities to confine them, and at least offer them the rehab help they require. When in lived and worked in Sacramento, there was an adult hostel on the recently mothballed Mather AFB. People had to agree to leave in the morning and be back by curfew at night, and no drug or alcohol use was permitted. Most of the unhoused population had no use for the place because of the rules, despite the fact that it was a safer and more hospitable environment than the overnight drunk tank shelter at 2700 Front Street. (I did have one passenger--newly arrived in California from out of state--who was up for obeying the rules, employed, and on the way to getting his own place, i.e., using the residential facility the way it was intended. That's how I found about the place. There's apparently a newer transitional and residential housing program at Mather that targets veterans living on the street; I don't think it's the same program.)
The problem of dysfunctional addicts on the streets and their antisocial behaviors is bad enough that I think it requires law enforcement intervention--arrests for open drugs use (and dealing!), discarding needles, littering, trespassing on public property, passing out in public parks or bathrooms, public urination and defecation, shoplifting, threatening and harassment of passerby, DUI, or failure to appear for hearings after arrest or ticketing for such charges. That's the Accountability part; the other part is Severity. If the maximum penalty for those offenses is 1 year in confinement, that's what the offenders need to serve. They can show up for their hearing and pay their ticket, of they go to jail. The jail penalty might be reserved for a second offense. But not a third. I wrote more about my personal remedies some time ago https://adwjeditor.substack.com/p/i-support-forced-inpatient-recovery
Since approximately 100% of the dysfunctional addict population commits at least one of those offenses, there's no need to entangle people who are otherwise law-abiding by making simple personal possession of any substance a crime. (I'd support confiscation as an option with some substances, but that brings in the nettlesome complications of police accountability and corruption.) But strict limits need to be observed. Some of the criminal charges I've read about that were knocked down to simple possession--for quantities that obviously indicate a potential for illegal profits--are entirely too lenient. No one should have impunity to retail controlled substances on the street market. Especially not hard drugs. That's madness.
I don't think "legalizing weed" is responsible for any of the situation on Skid Row. There is considerable irony in the fact that cannabis appears to be more expensive "per high" than meth or crack, and isn't featured as a substance of choice with the homeless population in the article--or, in my cabdriving experience in Sacramento between 1986 and 2005, with the chronically homeless population in Sacramento. (I know that even in the California capital the homeless situation has blown up over the previous 10 years, but much of that problem was driven by the 2018 wildfires in the Sierras.)
Weed is still Federally illegal, with all of the complications that leads to--ranging from interstate trafficking to the inability of people to start a cannabis business without facing terrible obstacles related to in inability to do bank deposits obtain loans or leases, and the expense of complying with "safety regulations" related to the crop. Especially given that marijuana practically never had any problems requiring pesticides or fungicides in the 1970s--the first decade of the illicit domestic industry in northern California, when growing 20 plants was considered greedy. But the economic laws related to illicit products started kicking on within a few years, and by the 1980s the business began to require the sort of profiteering mentality that doesn't balk at injuring or killing people with booby traps and firearms. Criminalize a plant and turn it into a lucrative business, and after a while, only criminal mentalities have what it takes to run that business. And as it happened, things only got worse over the course of the 1990s, because the Mexican cartels began to stake their own claim in California--investing in large growing operations, often on public lands. That's when plantations began to become common. And water pumping from headwaters streams, the use of chemical fertilizers, and the resort to pesticides and fungicides to control the problems with mold and aphid infestations are all the result of growing large quantities of pot either in large outdoor plots or large warehouses.
If the problems of commercial legalization prove to be intractable--and I'm dismayed at some of the excesses, and the emphasis on cashing in by venture capitalists who are already well-heeled--I could potentially support a ban on the legal commercial market. But I'd never support recriminalizing the ability of adults to legally cultivate small quantities for household use and keep a moderate amount of weed on hand. I'd prefer everyone in a legal state to boycott the commercial retail market in favor of taking advantage of that option. For one thing, the monetary savings are potentially substantial. But since cultivation of even small amounts for personal use continues to be criminalized under Federal law, that right has yet to be officially secured anywhere in the country.
Its very sad to see what these hard drugs do to people. Their dopaminergic system is completely hijacked. Nothing rewards them except the false rewards of drugs, and they become incapable of feeling good about anything else or receive a feeling of reward by doing the right thing. They are rendered incapable of taking care of themselves or others, making them unsuitable to be parents, tenants, workers, community members, or stewards of their own bodies.
They become dependent on drug dealers for the drugs that keep them going, healthcare workers for the numerous medical problems that result from their anhedonic approach to self-care and hygiene, the foster system to raise their children, and social services for basics like food, clothing, and shelter. There is no longer any reward for obtaining those things themselves because their entire rewards system is accessed via shortcut through their veins and their lungs, all for the small price of some pocket change collected by passing pedestrians, or often from theft. Addicts will steal anything that isn't locked down, sell their bodies, sell their life-sustaining medicine, and even their shoes if it means they can get high for another few hours. In a way it is another tax on the working people in their community. It might take Taco Bell Joe a couple paychecks to save up for a bike to ride to work, but it takes a tool and 60 seconds for Billy Methhead to steal it and sell it for $20.
We absolutely need to get comfortable with the idea that these people need to be treated against their will, because they no longer have free will. In my opinion, we should be setting up our jails to handle this while stepping up enforcement of the numerous crimes of addiction that occur downstream from hard drug addiction. If someone if able to shit and sleep on the streets without causing harm to others, they won't get caught up in it. But the ones who become a plague on society, stealing, burglarizing and assaulting to feed their addictions and enslaving others to addiction to feed their own, they require a more aggressive approach.
Great article. We used to say meth was a drug for Americans made by Americans when the production was domestic. Now, the majority of meth is made in Mexican super labs. Homelessness is big business in California ,people are making a lot of money solving he issue. The more money spend the larger it becomes. Also a problem are the advocates like Bales who says any housing without granite countertops is unacceptable. Lastly, the homeless population proved covid was a hoax as it did not put a dent in the numbers for a virus that was supposed to be so "deadly"
This is depressing. It seems like nothing much changes, it just gets worse. I spent a lot of time around LA when doing security and it was bad then. Of course, the entertainment world I was working in had its own issues, they just weren't as gritty and stark. After I left I used to tell my fellow workers who complained about job pressure that they had no complaints. Job pressure is trying to revive your client at 2 AM in the shower with a needle stuck in their arm. The real sad thing is that the wealthier people I worked for cared more about homeless animals then the people we would drive by every day. That's where their donations would go if they donated anything at all. It's easy to become desensitized to those environments.
Fascinating there Daniel - and that sounds like some crazy situations - "Job pressure is trying to revive your client at 2 AM in the shower with a needle stuck in their arm." - It's kind of mind blowing that the United States, with its immense wealth, has let the situation get so bad. But it's tough to find the way out.
Appreciate the rec here, Ioan. Really look forward to reading this book. For those interested in the topic, I’d also recommend Methland by Nick Reding and The Least of Us by Sam Quinones. All the best.
Thanks there David. Yeah, I read Methland back in the noughties and it was a great read. It seems almost innocent good ol' days compared to what went on since. Best there.
Drugs, then a spiral into homelessness while doing anything for a hit. Can they ever return to be a "normie"? Any data on street people? Or, is it just death?
There are some people who have been there and come out of it. I should interview some and get their thoughts on how they did it. I think it's likely drug addiction and bad economic conditions at the same time that lead to homelessness. I don't think there are many cases of clean people going on the streets then becoming addicts but I may well be wrong. Their addiction can certainly get worse on the street though and make them stay homeless. This is an area I need to research more...
Imo 65k homeless in LA is a huge underestimation. There's very few parts of the city where you won't find homeless since covid. The government is taxing us to death and being utterly negligent in dealing with drugs and homelessness imo. LA county is rapidly becoming third world. People that can are leaving
Great stuff ioan. Meth is definitely still a big drug. Even here I'm my town of hemet CA their was lots of cases of people making meth in their RVs "yes like breaking bad " and them catching on fire because they were amateurs. Ironically it was when breaking bad was still on the air so I guess people that they could be like Walter white. And skid row is truly hell on earth. It's one of the few places in the united states that is truly "third world" Jesus. It's quite embarrassing you see that in the richest country on earth. I feel bad for the people that end up there. It's like a black hole you can't get out of
Yeah, America is a country of extremes. But the current homeless-drug addiction crisis is beyond the pale. Is Hemet nice? I had a good friend from Riverside.
I remember when the only gangs in Hemet and Romoland were Hells Angels and the Aryan Nation. Hemet was the only area in the state of California where Tom Metzger, a prominent white power advocate, won the vote in his campaign for US Senate in 1982. Hemet has changed. The old racist seniors have died off. Metzger died in Hemet in 2020. The seniors are rolling in their graves now with the population changes in Hemet. I always liked the burger joint Farmer Boys especially the original one in Perris.
Also do you remember way back in 2013 their was the bizarre death case of Elisa lam? The Canadian tourist that was staying at the notorious Cecil hotel in skid row and was found on top of the water tank? She was seen on cctv footage acting strange in the elevator prior to being found in the tank. Very strange case and just one of the many regarding the Cecil hotel
Also it's interesting Mexico has always been known for meth production but not so much colombia. Is it because cocaine just mostly dominates the trade in colombia or do you actually see meth production in colombia??
Yeah this is a massive country with to many people. It's gonna be a consuming nation after all. And hemet was actually just made to be a retirement community for old folks. That's why you often see lots of elderly people here as well as WW2, Korea, and Vietnam veterans. But since I came here in 2004 it has really gone down hill with homeless people and addicts. As well as ex convicts coming here. You see alot more police presence now. But it truly has seen better days. It's not as bad as Baltimore or even LA but at least LA had more of a variety on going out for the Friday night. It's dead here. But that's the way it was meant to be. We have all the major cities near us anyway.
has there ever been bad publicity for illegal drugs? Not as far as I can tell.
Consider the first response of many street opioid addicts when they hear the news of a wave of overdoses: they go hunting for the source.
Every mention of a forbidden drug seems to attract more curiosity, and more recruits to use. I'm really worried about ketamine taking off, for instance. In the most recent surveys of drug use--legal, illegal, and in-between--use of any substances other than alcohol and weed by young people is down by at least half of what it was a few years ago. Even binge drinking and weed use have declined. The single exception is ketamine.
Ketamine is not a "safe drug" just because the FDA has cleared it for some prescription uses. Really, people have to get over that foolish and self-deceptive attitude. Naive people--thinking that just because doctors can legally prescribe a substance, it's therefore "safe"--accounted for a lot of the Oxycontin epidemic.
And, well, here I am, giving free publicity to ketamine...it's one of the things that leads me to throw up my hands. That every new drug fad can get spread just by mentioning the name of the substance. That there's a significant population of people practically guaranteed to be that foolish and reckless, as if their own ignorance confers them with immunity to consequences.
This is the saddest thing ever. My granddaughter finally agreed to come home after years. We are thrilled and scared. What a juxtaposition . She went to rehab and goes to a day program and lives in a sober house. At the moment. We know it is up to her . It is painful to watch her struggle. I have told her that it will not always be this hard. To believe because I believe. We must remember they are worthy. Worthy of the help they need and not the contempt of others. Imagine how much harder it is to recover when your fellow citizens deem you unworthy?
Hi Jeanne, great to have your voice here and thoughts are with your grand-daughter and her path. I hope we can find better ways so this doesnt continue to hurt families - I share your belief in people's worth.
We have all seen meth heads and the terrible destruction their body has gone through but there have been few actual descriptions of what meth does to you.
Most of us know that there is a loss of appetite, desire to move around constantly always trying to do something, rapid breathing and the lack of sleep because the effects of meth can last over 24 hrs. But where it really gets nasty is the long term effects. No having the munchies with meth. Meth drastically restricts the desire for food and drastic weight loss occurs damaging bone structure and strength and normal functioning of your internal organs. Thus the zombie like appearance everyone is familiar with. There is a change in body odor and breath and the chemicals in the production of meth cause your sweat to smell like resin as if you are a walking can of solvent. Meth causes dry mouth and you lose the saliva that protects your teeth from the acids in your mouth and your teeth are literally being eaten away. Yellow and black are the new colors for your teeth in your mouth. Along with that meth causes teeth grinding and facial tics which contributes to the decimation of your mouth. The cardiovascular effects of meth is an incredible constricting of the arteries which many people who do not use meth develop over a lifetime. Meth users can reduce that time to months instead of decades. Breathing is so restricted you can literally blow your heart apart from the pressure of trying to breathe and move. Their hearts are a pressure cooker on high ready to explode. Meth actually causes the body cells to die and the skin loses it's elasticity and the ability to replace the body cells lost to meth consumption. The result is skin sores and acne on the face and sores on the body. They can become a walking pile of infected sores on their body. To add to that, meth gives you the physical sensation of bugs crawling on your skin and the meth user is constantly scratching their skin and causing massive bleeding sores all over the body which do not heal thus making them a perfect extra for any zombie movie.
But this is the real serious part. The devastation to your body especially the heart and your bone structure is now shown to be irreversible especially your damaged brain functions. Memory, attention span and the ability to plan and make decisions is destroyed. Your teeth are beyond hope and there is little bone structure to support false teeth or implants. Recovery is beyond long term users and even short term users there has been a terrible destruction of a real future possibility of a normal life. Massive depression is a real side effect of any recovery process. It seems that any promise of recovery from meth addiction is half promise at best and you will then realize you have made the biggest mistake in your life.
Hi Ioan. Your article hits home with me. My wife and I moved to downtown San Diego in 2006. Our community, East Village, had a brand-new baseball park, was undergoing gentrification and we wanted to be a part of its growth. We invested in a penthouse condo and began to greatly enjoy downtown living.
East Village was always a shit hole but we gambled it would get better. The ballpark replaced an industrial area adjacent to the lower socio-economic neighborhoods to the south and the gentrification of the Gaslamp district to the north.
We have dogs and they need to be walked several times a day. Our frequent walks taught us about our community. There were many empty-nesters like us, ambitious young adults and homeless people. At the time “Homeless” was a fair term as most had hit unfortunate times and were thriving to get back their lives. There was also a portion who were predators – the addicts and thugs. The existing laws at the time, gave us some control over the predators.
I had many pleasant encounters with our Homeless and was always eager to help them and then it changed. Our lawmakers decriminalized drugs and theft, legalized weed, and established zero bail.
Immediately, the homeless community morphed into a predatory community filled with criminals. Their numbers multiplied. Our secure buildings became their targets for shelter, and a means to exploit the property and residents to get goods for their next fix. As a 32-year veteran of law enforcement working the most dangerous criminals in the US and Mexico, I got into more action in East Village than ever on the job – and that’s walking 2 fat Pugs.
My spouse was victimized on several occasions while walking the dogs and I had several physical altercations with guns, knives, scissors, mop handles and other weapons. Over time, I became insensitive and even aggressive toward these predators. I was prepared for battle whenever exiting our building. Drug usage and other nasty habits were “in your face.” The police were stripped of their tools to enforce these nasty habits and it continued to deteriorate. The good people of our community were no longer the priority and the progressives and liberals continued to decriminalize and coddle the predators.
Having two children who serve with the San Diego Police Department, they begged us to leave East Village. It became the most dangerous area of the city. We finally left our dream condo by the ballpark for a more modest but safer community.
Living among this highly dysfunctional, transient and predatory population you realize that housing or providing free meals and shelter is not the solution. They just keep coming once you provide something. They require a highly structured, and secure rehabilitation camp away from functioning communities where they can get regular meals and services. They must be removed from our cities! They need to be held accountable. They will not seek help on their own and our good citizens must be the priority. This is what it has come to in California.
Hey there Stephen. Always great to hear from you and this you write here is an incredible acount that should be shared. This part is especially crazy and sad - "As a 32-year veteran of law enforcement working the most dangerous criminals in the US and Mexico, I got into more action in East Village than ever on the job – and that’s walking 2 fat Pugs. My spouse was victimized on several occasions while walking the dogs and I had several physical altercations with guns, knives, scissors, mop handles and other weapons. Over time, I became insensitive and even aggressive toward these predators. I was prepared for battle whenever exiting our building." - It's mind blowing how this all happened in a wealthy city like San Diego and the political class just failed to deal with it or perhaps made it worse. Best there friend.
They built the new ballpark right in the area that historically was skid row and around the collection of the worst lowlifes of San Diego. Market Street, E street and Commercial Street were bad crime areas for the 46 years I lived in San Diego and San Diego County. The publicity about the revitalization of these area failed to mention this bubbling underground of human sewer. Gas Lamp District and East Village are the perfect examples of false advertising. Less then 3 or 4 miles away across from East Village is an extremely violent neighborhood of Sherman Heights which furthered the violence in East Village. So much money was made with this illusion of urban living and unfortunately so many people were victims of this urban, business and housing scam. My wife and I have never looked back after leaving San Diego, San Diego County and California in 2006. Funerals, weddings and family reunions we just send a card or make a telephone call. You could not pay us to ever set forth in that state again. We even have a grandson in San Francisco and he knows that we will only meet in neutral territory at least 1000 miles away from the state of California.
Really that bad! I still enjoy My visits to California but one has a different perspective on a place and it's changes when you are not from there.
It is a multitude of factors especially with the perspective of being born and raised there seeing the changes for the worst over time. 45,000 homeless on the streets which was started by ridiculous court decisions. Stupidity by public officials resulting in absurd decisions affecting everyday life. The Los Angeles fires is a perfect example. Urban development plans which destroyed decades of ethnic neighborhoods and businesses downtown. Historical renovations that resulted in a huge jump in property value making the area unaffordable to the low income residents. Never listened to alternatives despite demonstrations to make historical zones subject to no massive increases in property value. Residents in those renovated homes became the enemy and who were attacked. Increasing crime was never dealt with and law enforcement corruption has been always a huge problem. Illegal immigration used by the city, contractors and major businesses to destroy any wage growth and actually ended up reducing wages. City janitors which became a stepping stone to the middle class for blacks for decades was destroyed by laying off the janitors and outsourcing the work to contractors who only used illegal labor is the perfect example. The 1992 carpenter's strike in California resulted in contractors destroying the union and hiring only illegal labor. Carpenter wages today are lower then wages in 1992. It was definitely time to leave.
That is very interesting. The detail of the janitors is a notable detail I know nothing about. I think the issue of homeless and addiction is a larger party of failure by Western governments i'm various policies over the last few decades but it's a very visible, and impactful, sign of it.
"Our lawmakers decriminalized drugs and theft, legalized weed, and established zero bail."
A few points: I don't know the details of the drug decriminalization measures you speak of, but open use of drugs on the street--legal or illegal--should always be a criminal offense.* As should shoplifting, theft, and burglary--come on, California, this is basic! Allowing people to bail out for misdemeanors on recognizance--or allowing them to skip out on their hearings entirely--is an abrogation of government responsibilities that's unfathomable to me. Same with issuing tickets for misdemeanor offenses, as if they're parking tickets, and then allowing the offenders to be scofflaws. (Parking ticket scofflaws are bad enough.)
[*tobacco and coffee excepted, as posing zero behavioral risk. And while it's often easy to get away with the rest of it--the police can't be everywhere--that's an entirely different situation than simply allowing public use with a zero enforcement policy. ]
The situation is bad enough that I don't think we should be building apartments for shiftless derelict drug addicts, we need to build facilities to confine them, and at least offer them the rehab help they require. When in lived and worked in Sacramento, there was an adult hostel on the recently mothballed Mather AFB. People had to agree to leave in the morning and be back by curfew at night, and no drug or alcohol use was permitted. Most of the unhoused population had no use for the place because of the rules, despite the fact that it was a safer and more hospitable environment than the overnight drunk tank shelter at 2700 Front Street. (I did have one passenger--newly arrived in California from out of state--who was up for obeying the rules, employed, and on the way to getting his own place, i.e., using the residential facility the way it was intended. That's how I found about the place. There's apparently a newer transitional and residential housing program at Mather that targets veterans living on the street; I don't think it's the same program.)
The problem of dysfunctional addicts on the streets and their antisocial behaviors is bad enough that I think it requires law enforcement intervention--arrests for open drugs use (and dealing!), discarding needles, littering, trespassing on public property, passing out in public parks or bathrooms, public urination and defecation, shoplifting, threatening and harassment of passerby, DUI, or failure to appear for hearings after arrest or ticketing for such charges. That's the Accountability part; the other part is Severity. If the maximum penalty for those offenses is 1 year in confinement, that's what the offenders need to serve. They can show up for their hearing and pay their ticket, of they go to jail. The jail penalty might be reserved for a second offense. But not a third. I wrote more about my personal remedies some time ago https://adwjeditor.substack.com/p/i-support-forced-inpatient-recovery
Since approximately 100% of the dysfunctional addict population commits at least one of those offenses, there's no need to entangle people who are otherwise law-abiding by making simple personal possession of any substance a crime. (I'd support confiscation as an option with some substances, but that brings in the nettlesome complications of police accountability and corruption.) But strict limits need to be observed. Some of the criminal charges I've read about that were knocked down to simple possession--for quantities that obviously indicate a potential for illegal profits--are entirely too lenient. No one should have impunity to retail controlled substances on the street market. Especially not hard drugs. That's madness.
I don't think "legalizing weed" is responsible for any of the situation on Skid Row. There is considerable irony in the fact that cannabis appears to be more expensive "per high" than meth or crack, and isn't featured as a substance of choice with the homeless population in the article--or, in my cabdriving experience in Sacramento between 1986 and 2005, with the chronically homeless population in Sacramento. (I know that even in the California capital the homeless situation has blown up over the previous 10 years, but much of that problem was driven by the 2018 wildfires in the Sierras.)
Weed is still Federally illegal, with all of the complications that leads to--ranging from interstate trafficking to the inability of people to start a cannabis business without facing terrible obstacles related to in inability to do bank deposits obtain loans or leases, and the expense of complying with "safety regulations" related to the crop. Especially given that marijuana practically never had any problems requiring pesticides or fungicides in the 1970s--the first decade of the illicit domestic industry in northern California, when growing 20 plants was considered greedy. But the economic laws related to illicit products started kicking on within a few years, and by the 1980s the business began to require the sort of profiteering mentality that doesn't balk at injuring or killing people with booby traps and firearms. Criminalize a plant and turn it into a lucrative business, and after a while, only criminal mentalities have what it takes to run that business. And as it happened, things only got worse over the course of the 1990s, because the Mexican cartels began to stake their own claim in California--investing in large growing operations, often on public lands. That's when plantations began to become common. And water pumping from headwaters streams, the use of chemical fertilizers, and the resort to pesticides and fungicides to control the problems with mold and aphid infestations are all the result of growing large quantities of pot either in large outdoor plots or large warehouses.
If the problems of commercial legalization prove to be intractable--and I'm dismayed at some of the excesses, and the emphasis on cashing in by venture capitalists who are already well-heeled--I could potentially support a ban on the legal commercial market. But I'd never support recriminalizing the ability of adults to legally cultivate small quantities for household use and keep a moderate amount of weed on hand. I'd prefer everyone in a legal state to boycott the commercial retail market in favor of taking advantage of that option. For one thing, the monetary savings are potentially substantial. But since cultivation of even small amounts for personal use continues to be criminalized under Federal law, that right has yet to be officially secured anywhere in the country.
Its very sad to see what these hard drugs do to people. Their dopaminergic system is completely hijacked. Nothing rewards them except the false rewards of drugs, and they become incapable of feeling good about anything else or receive a feeling of reward by doing the right thing. They are rendered incapable of taking care of themselves or others, making them unsuitable to be parents, tenants, workers, community members, or stewards of their own bodies.
They become dependent on drug dealers for the drugs that keep them going, healthcare workers for the numerous medical problems that result from their anhedonic approach to self-care and hygiene, the foster system to raise their children, and social services for basics like food, clothing, and shelter. There is no longer any reward for obtaining those things themselves because their entire rewards system is accessed via shortcut through their veins and their lungs, all for the small price of some pocket change collected by passing pedestrians, or often from theft. Addicts will steal anything that isn't locked down, sell their bodies, sell their life-sustaining medicine, and even their shoes if it means they can get high for another few hours. In a way it is another tax on the working people in their community. It might take Taco Bell Joe a couple paychecks to save up for a bike to ride to work, but it takes a tool and 60 seconds for Billy Methhead to steal it and sell it for $20.
We absolutely need to get comfortable with the idea that these people need to be treated against their will, because they no longer have free will. In my opinion, we should be setting up our jails to handle this while stepping up enforcement of the numerous crimes of addiction that occur downstream from hard drug addiction. If someone if able to shit and sleep on the streets without causing harm to others, they won't get caught up in it. But the ones who become a plague on society, stealing, burglarizing and assaulting to feed their addictions and enslaving others to addiction to feed their own, they require a more aggressive approach.
Thanks there Some Guy and it has really got to critical levels in U.S. cities like you describe.
Great article. We used to say meth was a drug for Americans made by Americans when the production was domestic. Now, the majority of meth is made in Mexican super labs. Homelessness is big business in California ,people are making a lot of money solving he issue. The more money spend the larger it becomes. Also a problem are the advocates like Bales who says any housing without granite countertops is unacceptable. Lastly, the homeless population proved covid was a hoax as it did not put a dent in the numbers for a virus that was supposed to be so "deadly"
Thanks Michael and all very pertinent points there.
This is depressing. It seems like nothing much changes, it just gets worse. I spent a lot of time around LA when doing security and it was bad then. Of course, the entertainment world I was working in had its own issues, they just weren't as gritty and stark. After I left I used to tell my fellow workers who complained about job pressure that they had no complaints. Job pressure is trying to revive your client at 2 AM in the shower with a needle stuck in their arm. The real sad thing is that the wealthier people I worked for cared more about homeless animals then the people we would drive by every day. That's where their donations would go if they donated anything at all. It's easy to become desensitized to those environments.
Fascinating there Daniel - and that sounds like some crazy situations - "Job pressure is trying to revive your client at 2 AM in the shower with a needle stuck in their arm." - It's kind of mind blowing that the United States, with its immense wealth, has let the situation get so bad. But it's tough to find the way out.
Appreciate the rec here, Ioan. Really look forward to reading this book. For those interested in the topic, I’d also recommend Methland by Nick Reding and The Least of Us by Sam Quinones. All the best.
Thanks there David. Yeah, I read Methland back in the noughties and it was a great read. It seems almost innocent good ol' days compared to what went on since. Best there.
The chicken or the egg, which comes first?
Drugs, then a spiral into homelessness while doing anything for a hit. Can they ever return to be a "normie"? Any data on street people? Or, is it just death?
There are some people who have been there and come out of it. I should interview some and get their thoughts on how they did it. I think it's likely drug addiction and bad economic conditions at the same time that lead to homelessness. I don't think there are many cases of clean people going on the streets then becoming addicts but I may well be wrong. Their addiction can certainly get worse on the street though and make them stay homeless. This is an area I need to research more...
Imo 65k homeless in LA is a huge underestimation. There's very few parts of the city where you won't find homeless since covid. The government is taxing us to death and being utterly negligent in dealing with drugs and homelessness imo. LA county is rapidly becoming third world. People that can are leaving
It's crazy how they have let the mighty Los Angeles get this bad. I wonder when/if it will hit bottom and bounce back.
sad.
Indeed. Imagine the life of these people.
Great stuff ioan. Meth is definitely still a big drug. Even here I'm my town of hemet CA their was lots of cases of people making meth in their RVs "yes like breaking bad " and them catching on fire because they were amateurs. Ironically it was when breaking bad was still on the air so I guess people that they could be like Walter white. And skid row is truly hell on earth. It's one of the few places in the united states that is truly "third world" Jesus. It's quite embarrassing you see that in the richest country on earth. I feel bad for the people that end up there. It's like a black hole you can't get out of
Yeah, America is a country of extremes. But the current homeless-drug addiction crisis is beyond the pale. Is Hemet nice? I had a good friend from Riverside.
I remember when the only gangs in Hemet and Romoland were Hells Angels and the Aryan Nation. Hemet was the only area in the state of California where Tom Metzger, a prominent white power advocate, won the vote in his campaign for US Senate in 1982. Hemet has changed. The old racist seniors have died off. Metzger died in Hemet in 2020. The seniors are rolling in their graves now with the population changes in Hemet. I always liked the burger joint Farmer Boys especially the original one in Perris.
Farmer Boys - I'll have to check that one out. Yeah, things must have changed by the sounds of it!
Also do you remember way back in 2013 their was the bizarre death case of Elisa lam? The Canadian tourist that was staying at the notorious Cecil hotel in skid row and was found on top of the water tank? She was seen on cctv footage acting strange in the elevator prior to being found in the tank. Very strange case and just one of the many regarding the Cecil hotel
I didn't see that but I'll have to look it up.
Also it's interesting Mexico has always been known for meth production but not so much colombia. Is it because cocaine just mostly dominates the trade in colombia or do you actually see meth production in colombia??
It seems like Mexico has the meth colombia has the coke
True that - and California has the cannabis, Syria has the speed, and Scotland a has the shit-face you whisky
Yeah this is a massive country with to many people. It's gonna be a consuming nation after all. And hemet was actually just made to be a retirement community for old folks. That's why you often see lots of elderly people here as well as WW2, Korea, and Vietnam veterans. But since I came here in 2004 it has really gone down hill with homeless people and addicts. As well as ex convicts coming here. You see alot more police presence now. But it truly has seen better days. It's not as bad as Baltimore or even LA but at least LA had more of a variety on going out for the Friday night. It's dead here. But that's the way it was meant to be. We have all the major cities near us anyway.
That is sad to see a community in decay.
San diego is to the south of us, LA to the north, riverside, temecula, etc. So it's give and take. You just have to drive out of town alot
has there ever been bad publicity for illegal drugs? Not as far as I can tell.
Consider the first response of many street opioid addicts when they hear the news of a wave of overdoses: they go hunting for the source.
Every mention of a forbidden drug seems to attract more curiosity, and more recruits to use. I'm really worried about ketamine taking off, for instance. In the most recent surveys of drug use--legal, illegal, and in-between--use of any substances other than alcohol and weed by young people is down by at least half of what it was a few years ago. Even binge drinking and weed use have declined. The single exception is ketamine.
Ketamine is not a "safe drug" just because the FDA has cleared it for some prescription uses. Really, people have to get over that foolish and self-deceptive attitude. Naive people--thinking that just because doctors can legally prescribe a substance, it's therefore "safe"--accounted for a lot of the Oxycontin epidemic.
And, well, here I am, giving free publicity to ketamine...it's one of the things that leads me to throw up my hands. That every new drug fad can get spread just by mentioning the name of the substance. That there's a significant population of people practically guaranteed to be that foolish and reckless, as if their own ignorance confers them with immunity to consequences.
This is the saddest thing ever. My granddaughter finally agreed to come home after years. We are thrilled and scared. What a juxtaposition . She went to rehab and goes to a day program and lives in a sober house. At the moment. We know it is up to her . It is painful to watch her struggle. I have told her that it will not always be this hard. To believe because I believe. We must remember they are worthy. Worthy of the help they need and not the contempt of others. Imagine how much harder it is to recover when your fellow citizens deem you unworthy?
Hi Jeanne, great to have your voice here and thoughts are with your grand-daughter and her path. I hope we can find better ways so this doesnt continue to hurt families - I share your belief in people's worth.
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We have all seen meth heads and the terrible destruction their body has gone through but there have been few actual descriptions of what meth does to you.
Most of us know that there is a loss of appetite, desire to move around constantly always trying to do something, rapid breathing and the lack of sleep because the effects of meth can last over 24 hrs. But where it really gets nasty is the long term effects. No having the munchies with meth. Meth drastically restricts the desire for food and drastic weight loss occurs damaging bone structure and strength and normal functioning of your internal organs. Thus the zombie like appearance everyone is familiar with. There is a change in body odor and breath and the chemicals in the production of meth cause your sweat to smell like resin as if you are a walking can of solvent. Meth causes dry mouth and you lose the saliva that protects your teeth from the acids in your mouth and your teeth are literally being eaten away. Yellow and black are the new colors for your teeth in your mouth. Along with that meth causes teeth grinding and facial tics which contributes to the decimation of your mouth. The cardiovascular effects of meth is an incredible constricting of the arteries which many people who do not use meth develop over a lifetime. Meth users can reduce that time to months instead of decades. Breathing is so restricted you can literally blow your heart apart from the pressure of trying to breathe and move. Their hearts are a pressure cooker on high ready to explode. Meth actually causes the body cells to die and the skin loses it's elasticity and the ability to replace the body cells lost to meth consumption. The result is skin sores and acne on the face and sores on the body. They can become a walking pile of infected sores on their body. To add to that, meth gives you the physical sensation of bugs crawling on your skin and the meth user is constantly scratching their skin and causing massive bleeding sores all over the body which do not heal thus making them a perfect extra for any zombie movie.
But this is the real serious part. The devastation to your body especially the heart and your bone structure is now shown to be irreversible especially your damaged brain functions. Memory, attention span and the ability to plan and make decisions is destroyed. Your teeth are beyond hope and there is little bone structure to support false teeth or implants. Recovery is beyond long term users and even short term users there has been a terrible destruction of a real future possibility of a normal life. Massive depression is a real side effect of any recovery process. It seems that any promise of recovery from meth addiction is half promise at best and you will then realize you have made the biggest mistake in your life.
Overwhelm social services.
It's all by design.
Practically every collage student in America learns how to take down America.
Cloward and Piven.